Category: Scale Models
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Dassault Super Mystere – Part Two – Come In And Sit Down

A model aircraft cockpit can be a highlight of the build or it can be a pit of cocks. It is all dependent upon the skill of the kit moulders and their level of interest. The classic Airfix or Monogram cockpit that consisted of two posts running horizontally inside and a seat that straddled them…
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SE5A – Part Three – The Roundels Wearing An Airplane

The basic structure of the little ESCI kit for the SE5A was rewarding – things fit and lined up. But that did not make the 30-year old decals any better. I tried, folks. I honestly tried. John France saw me trying and lent me some Micro Sol to try and get the things to lay…
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SE5A – Part Two – Plain As A Pikestaff

As admirable as I may find the WW1 British designs for their aircraft – and I do like the SE5A – my admiration doesn’t extend to the War Office and their parsimonious attitude to paint. In short – their aircraft schemes are dull. I have seen some colonial examples that looked sharp, but apparently were…
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SE5A – Part One – Is There A Model In There?

A good question – this old Esci baggie was sitting forlorn and unbuilt – and likely to be touched for many a year until the Kit Whisperer found it. I will be frank – I deliberately seek out the most modest of kits to build. The $ 500 aircraft carrier is not for me –…
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Yakovlev 15 – Stalin’s Stopgap

Don’t panic and start to look for previous posts about this Soviet fighter – this is the one and only mention it’ll get. The PM models Yak 15 was cheap enough by any standards – even in Perth. It cannot be said to occupy many minds nor cause much lust, no matter who kits it.…
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Hurry Up.

Hurry Up! Hurry Up! Hurry Up! This is a hobby, you know. No time to sit there enjoying yourself. if you don’t speed up you’ll fall behind the others – the other modellers who are speeding up. Then where will you be? You’ll be sitting there with a half-completed model while they are out buying…
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H-34 Choctaw – Part Two – The SMCWA Club Build

Tuesday mornings are sacred round here – that is the morning I get to go to the SMCWA clubrooms and build a scale model. Ignore the fact that I have two other modelling stations – here inside and out in my shed. Ignore the airbrush booth and the assembly bench and the rack of 157…
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The Determined Modeller

I admire determined and steadfast people. As I write this there is a Mort Kunstler print of Ulysses S Grant on the wall facing me. He is raising his hat to celebrate his victory at Vicksburg. The accounts of his trials and his character have always been an inspiration, though I would not follow his…
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Catalina Mk I – Part Five – Z 2138

Well, THAT was a series of good lessons – well learned. The half-built PBY-5A I purchased from the stash stack has been revamped extensively and has emerged onto the hard stand as a Catalina Mk I – Z 2138 of the RCAF. Stationed at Botwood, Newfoundland in April 1943. No, I have no idea what…

